Sen. Sessions blasts Obama for 'secret meeting' on immigration

President Barack Obama gestures as speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, blasted President Barack Obama today for conducting private meetings at the White House with business leaders and civil rights groups to discuss immigration reform.

Obama met this morning with labor and civil rights advocates to discuss his push for comprehensive changes to the nation's immigration laws. This afternoon, he met with executives from leading banks and corporations to rally support for his plan to put undocumented residents on a path to citizenship.

Notable participants include AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, labor and immigration activist Eliseo Medina, and Yahoo! president Marissa Mayer, according to a list of attendees provided by the White House.

Sessions accused Obama of "shutting out" regular Americans from an issue of national interest. Here's the full statement released by Sessions today:

“Once again, our leaders are meeting in secret with narrow special interests to decide the fate of our immigration system while everyday working Americans are shut out. President Obama is meeting privately with the most powerful men in finance and business to discuss how to bring in more low-wage labor at a time when millions of Americans can’t earn enough to pay their bills. He’s meeting with progressive activists to discuss amnesty and chain migration. But what we need is an immigration policy that serves the national interest, not the special interests.

Who at the White House is speaking for the working people of this country? Who is speaking for the $15-an-hour legal worker who doesn’t want to lose his job to federally subsidized illegal labor? Who is speaking for the taxpayers who don’t want to burden their children and grandchildren with more debt to provide free federal benefits to the millions of people who are unlawfully present? Who is speaking for the victims of drug cartel violence that could be prevented if the borders were secure?

Somehow I doubt Goldman Sachs or La Raza is speaking for these Americans. We have seen this before: the ‘masters of the universe’ want low wages and cheap labor and don’t seem to care much about how it impacts workers or taxpayers. All lawmakers—Democrat, Republican, Independent—have a responsibility to our citizen and legal immigrant constituents to put their needs ahead of the special interests President Obama is meeting with today.”

The White House said Monday that the meetings were part of a coordinated effort to build momentum for Obama's immigration push, introduced by the president during a speech in Las Vegas last week.

"The President and his team will continue to highlight the importance of comprehensive immigration reform this week, meeting with key stakeholders, CEOs and law enforcement officials to discuss the benefits from an economic and a security perspective while also underscoring the historic progress that has been made when it comes to securing our nation's borders," said White House press secretary Jay Carney.

Here's full list of attendees at today's meetings, as provided by the White House: